


And Hope  Still Lives On

by hithelleth



Category: The Originals (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Angst, Character Death, Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-08-22
Packaged: 2018-02-14 06:53:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2182116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hithelleth/pseuds/hithelleth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She made him better, she made him less of a monster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Hope  Still Lives On

Hope caresses the side of his face.

“It’s okay, Dad,” she says, her voice small, like when she was little. “Don’t be sorry for respecting my wishes.”

For letting her live a human life.

_Not that he didn’t try to convince her otherwise. They all did, even Rebekah, when they realised that Hope will not stop aging, that she, so powerful, is, after all, mortal. In the end, they couldn’t but let her have it her way, as painful as it was._

He presses his lips on the back of her hand, calloused and wrinkled, like his will never be.

“I’ve had a wonderful life.” Her eyes bore into his, making him believe it, even as he loses himself in their blueness, just like the first time he held her.

A wonderful life – a hundred years full of violence and danger. Of love and happiness, too.

She labours for breath, continuing: “And I’ll live on…”

His vision blurs with tears and he lets them fall onto her hand.

“Always,” Klaus whispers. “Always.”

Not only in his memories, and Rebekah’s and Elijah’s, but in the children she bore and in their children and others down the line.

He leans closer and kisses her temple, resting his forehead against hers for a moment.

Her heartbeat grows ever slower, fainter.

Klaus scoops her up with great care, for she is so frail now, and sits on the bed himself, leaning against the headboard. His tears run freely as he cradles her to himself, rocking slightly, and tries to hum a melody.

 _No parent should watch their child die_ , _they say,_ he thinks. _How could have our parents wanted us dead? Perhaps we were monsters – and perhaps Elijah is right: our mother hadn’t made us monsters, we had done that to ourselves; but had she loved us, had she loved_ me _, I might not have become quite such a monster._

Hope was the one who saved them, who made them better, who made _him_ less of a monster.

And now her heart stutters and pauses, and Klaus holds his breath until it beats again, still more weakly. Again, and again, until there comes a pause that lasts too long and her heart beats no more.

He pets her hair and looks into her blue eyes one last time before closing them. And he promises he will, despite his grief, remain that less-of-a-monster. For her.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m a terrible person, I know.
> 
> What do you think? Good? Bad? Comments are always welcome.


End file.
